A landslide occurred on the Kedarnath Highway in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district, resulting in the deaths of five pilgrims and injuries to three others. As per the details, the incident occurred between Sonprayag and Munkatia on Monday evening (September 9). Rudraprayag Police suspected that more pilgrims could be trapped under the debris. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has expressed grief over the loss of lives in the incident.
A group of pilgrims returning from a visit to Kedarnath were trapped in the landslide at around 7.20 pm on Monday. Meanwhile, the authorities have launched a rescue operation to save the trapped pilgrims. According to initial reports, teams from the local administration, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are actively engaged in relief and rescue efforts at the site. The rescue team has also retrieved one body of a pilgrim identified as Gopal (50) from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh besides rescuing three others who were rushed to Sonprayag in an ambulance.
Deceased pilgrims identified
The rescue operation had to be suspended due to bad weather and boulders still falling from the hillside intermittently on Monday night. As recuse efforts were resumed on Tuesday morning, bodies of four more pilgrims, including three women, were pulled out of the debris The pilgrims were identified as Durgabai Khapar (50) from Ghat district in Madhya Pradesh, Titli Devi (70) from Vaidehi village of Nepal's Dhanwa district, Saman Bai (50) from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh and Bharat Bhai Niralal (52) from Surat, Gujarat.
Kedarnath trek route reopened
It should be mentioned here that the trek route to Kedarnath was fully reopened for the movement of pilgrims last month on August 26. The route from Gaurikund to Kedarnath was closed for more than 25 days after it suffered extensive damage in the heavy rainfall that lashed various parts of Uttarakhand on the night of July 31. The 19-kilometre route was damaged at 29 places with debris blocking the road or its large portions breached.
(With PTI inputs)
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